Northern
California peace organizations recently confronted Lieutenant Colonel
Douglas Hart at the California National Guard headquarters in Sacramento
in response to alarming revelations that the Guard illegally spied upon
three anti-war groups at the State Capitol during a demonstration on
Mother's Day.

In a feature in the
San Jose Mercury News on July 3, the Guard confessed -- confirmed
by Guard upper echelon e-mails -- that it had tracked at least one
anti-war rally held on Mother's Day at the State Capitol that included
Gold Star Families for Peace, Raging Grannies and Code Pink. In those
e-mails, the Guard said its “folks” continued to “monitor” the rally,
including parents of American soldiers killed in Iraq.

Over 30 members of
the three peace organizations and others, after holding a protest in front
of the Guard’s office, tried to talk to the Guard Commander, but were
stopped at the front door by armed guards with their guns drawn. That’s
when the activists and reporters confronted Hart, the Guard’s public
affairs representative, who met them and reporters at the front door.

Hart denied again
and again, in spite of being presented with evidence otherwise, that the
Guard had ever spied on the peace activists, in response to persistent
questions by George Main, president of the Sacramento Chapter of Veterans
for Peace, other activists and reporters.

“We have never done
any spying on individuals and never intend to,” said Hart. “We don’t
gather information on individuals or groups.”

Tracking civilians’
constitutionally protected activities, such as protests, is illegal under
the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the U.S. military from
participating in domestic law enforcement.

“Isn’t this a
violation of the Posse Comitatus Act?” asked Karen Bernal of Sacramento
for Democracy.

“Information is
gathered by the military and police agencies on a national level, but the
Guard does not spy on individuals,” Hart replied, again denying the spying
allegations.

Just before the
peace groups confronted the Guard representative, Senator Joe Dunn
(Democrat-Garden Valley) held a press conference announcing that he was
seeking legislative subpoenas to gain access to the information on
surveillance activities from the National Guard.

Dunn launched his
investigation after the San Jose Mercury News reported on the
creation of a new National Guard intelligence unit that has been given
“broad authority” to set up new anti-terrorism projects in California. “If
they continue in what I refer to as bunker mentality here, it simply
confirms to us that our worst suspicions may in fact be true,” Dunn said
in the Mercury News on July 7.

Dunn also charged
that he was denied access to a Guard computer that had its hard drive
erased. In response to reporters' questions about the investigation and
the Senator’s lambasting of the Guard, Hart claimed, “We will be able to
talk with the Senator and show him that we have not done anything
illegal.”

The activists and
reporters were not convinced by any of Hart’s responses, since it was
clear that he was engaging in the classic technique of “plausible denial.”
The activists, aided by Senator Dunn, will persist in their efforts to
find out the truth about the Guard's spying activities.

On the same day,
U.S. military authorities also opened an investigation into the creation
of the special Guard unit designed to conduct domestic spying.

“The surveillance on
Mother's Day is reprehensible, a clear violation of their civil rights and
a possible violation of law,” said Main, a Vietnam-era veteran.

Natalie Wormelli of
Code Pink emphasized that this Guard surveillance was not just about Code
Pink or other peace activists, but about the Constitutional rights of
everybody.

“If they are
monitoring people like us who are not involved in criminal activities,
they're violating state and federal law,” said Wormelli. “There has to be
reasonable suspicion of criminal activities for them to monitor people.
Furthermore, they cannot keep a data base on people engaged in
Constitutionally protected activities or share that information with any
other state of federal agencies.”

I felt that Hart’s
denials of spying were an insult to the intelligence of all of the
reporters and activists that gathered in front of the Guard offices.
Everybody concerned about their Constitutional Rights should support the
activists and the investigation by Senator Dunn to uncover the truth about
the nature and extent of the Guard’s surveillance activities.

Courageous folks
like the members of Veterans for Peace, Gold Star Mothers for Peace and
Code Pink that demonstrated in front of the Guard office are the true
patriots in our society today, in contrast to the cabal of neo-con war
criminals that rule this country.

Dan Bacher is
an outdoor writer, alternative journalist and satirical song writer from
Sacramento, California. He is editor of the Central America Connection and
contributes to numerous publications and websites, including Dissident Voice,
CounterPunch, Because People Matter and the Sacramento News &
Review. Email:
danielbacher@hotmail.com.